Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB) Short Interest Up 10.0% in March

Core Laboratories Inc. (NYSE:CLB - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,590,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the March 15th total of 5,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 474,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 13.9 days. Currently, 14.2% of the company's shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLB. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Core Laboratories in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 43.1% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,447 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 9,913.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,502 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Core Laboratories by 171.6% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,200 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 2,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Core Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors own 97.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Core Laboratories from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Core Laboratories from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Core Laboratories from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Core Laboratories has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.50.

Core Laboratories Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:CLB traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $17.40. 416,376 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 470,762. Core Laboratories has a one year low of $13.82 and a one year high of $27.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.93. The company has a market cap of $815.36 million, a PE ratio of 20.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 2.40.

Core Laboratories (NYSE:CLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The oil and gas company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.01). Core Laboratories had a return on equity of 15.19% and a net margin of 8.03%. The business had revenue of $128.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Core Laboratories will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Core Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.23%. Core Laboratories's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.65%.

Core Laboratories Company Profile

Core Laboratories Inc provides reservoir description and production enhancement services and products to the oil and gas industry in the United States, and internationally. It operates through Reservoir Description and Production Enhancement segments. The Reservoir Description segment includes the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock and reservoir fluid samples to enhance production and improve recovery of crude oil and gas from its clients' reservoirs.